Pilot-Induced Oscillation - that seem like a very good analagy - I think the same works with lots of other examples - like boom and bust house prices, boom and bust economy.

So, the solution? Kill all polititions? Find a competent person, ask them 'Do you want to be in charge?' If they say yes then kill them, if they say 'NO F-IN WAY' give them the job for 2 years then find another sucker

You know all those pictures of Adam and Eve where they have belly button? Think about it..................... take as long as you need........................

Ever since I started reading about paleo and primal, I have become very distrustful of the government and the medical system as well. Every time I get one of the repulsive emails from Kaiser saying "It's January, time to lose weight: Healthy Pasta Recipes!" I develop a twitch in my eye muscles. >.>

I've become that person who tries to tell people that animal fat isn't bad, that fiber isn't required for regularity, that grains are fillers to keep us complacent, that sell by and expiration dates are shortened to make us buy more quickly. And if calcium from milk is so mandatory, why are we the only species on the planet that consumes it after childhood, and why do we have the highest milk consumption yet also the highest osteoporosis numbers in the world? And why... and why... And and and?!

Going out to eat is a chore, social events are a nightmare, where I am caught between people pitying me and a sometimes irresistible urge to binge because the bad foods smell so good. I can only resist by reminding myself of how evil and insidious it all is. I can't stand to eat poultry anywhere unless I know the source, ditto pork.

I am constantly judged by everyone I know about how I eat, way more than I ever was when I was shoveling down fast food and endless soda. >.< And don't even bring up the fact that I don't drink alcohol anymore, that is just TOO WEIRD.

Has it ruined my life? Sometimes I think it has, but I am grateful for it. Better to see things as they really are than continue to drink the literal and figurative kool-aid.

The first step in dealing with it is to recognize the problem. Unfortunately most people see the laws, see the problems, see more new laws, and think "new laws = productive legislature = good".

And yes, it works with MANY examples. Consider the "Drug War" ...

First you start with prohibition....which for the record started at the local and state level before the 18th amendment was proposed.
Then you get this: NY Times article from 1914 (note they are talking about local prohibitions, not the 18th amendment)
Then you get universal prohibition (stronger control)
Then you have the FBI alcohol wars
Then there was a pull-back of a sort, but you had already started the drug war at that point...
Eventually you have tens of thousands of people dying every year (60,000 in Mexico alone from 2006-2012) , trillions of dollars spent, local law enforcement militarized, huge swaths of the population with criminal records, huge power grabs by various groups, disregard of civil liberties people took for granted 100 years ago, on and on....

But Prohibition wasn't an evil plot. It was a movement of people trying to help people. They were doing what they thought was right, and when the result wasn't what they expected they did MORE right, and more, always chasing the ball and trying to exert control.

The solution starts with how you raise your kids. Do you tell them, "if it doesn't work, try harder", or do you tell them, "if it doesn't work, figure out why"?

How it ends... I don't know. I used to think a universal sunset of all laws was the answer. Just say that every law sunsets in 5 or 10 years. If after 5 or 10 years it's still a Hot Issue it will be debated again and maybe instead of just adding layers of law people will try to fix the original problems. If it isn't a Hot Issue it gives politicians a face-saving way of letting bad ideas die. Now I don't think that would be enough.

Maybe reinstate the draft, but instead of drafting military conscripts we draft representatives. Treat it like jury duty where a big pool of potential representatives are called, there is a selection process (popular vote but the only choices are the draftees?), and the people chosen to serve get a pay check for the 6 years or whatever of their term and everyone else goes home. It wouldn't be perfect but it would be better than what we have today.

Communisim dosn't however seem to work on a large scale and I have massive problems with the lack of freedom that seems to come hand in had with state control (see our last labour govenment and accusations of Nanny State), which seems to breed in people an expectation that everything should be done for you, which I am against, we need to take personal resposibility for our own action, but the state should be there to provide a safety net if we fall.

As Marx pointed out Capitalism is a powerful thing. It'll uproot everything that gets in its way. And often that's not a bad thing. Most traditional societies, for example, aren't good to women. And lives can be short, brutish and filled with superstition.

But the idea has taken hold that Capitalism is some sort of self-correcting machine, that any downside, like the housing bubble or Great Depression, MUST be the result of government meddling. This view is no accident, it's promotion is well-funded. And it's found it's most receptive audience among folks with a religious bent, who need infallible icons -- capitalism, Founding Fathers, Consitution. People who need stone tablets.

I'm 44 and grew up with history textbooks that still had a New Deal slant. I was actually taught, believe it or not, that America was great (history texts are always propoganda) because we weren't fully Communist or fully Capitalist, that we had a "mixed economy" and that was the way forward. This, of course, when away in the 80's.

Sometimes I wish I could un-know some things(ignorance is bliss) but then I think about my son. I am 38 years old and I've known things were fucked up since I was about 12. I've learned or been forced to make too many compromises over the years. What I'm realizing now is if you are not living your vision or living by your beliefs you are not really living at all. This is what I'm trying to get back to. Next to the birth of my son the happiest and most peaceful(inner peace)time in my life was when I was homeless and roaming the Country. I ate out of dumpsters and slept outside on the ground most nights for about three straight years and I loved it. Let me point out that this was something I chose to do. I did not drink or do drugs back then. Kinda weird because I drink a lot now that I am an active member of society. It's been a long time since my days as a vagrant and the quality of my life has been in steady decline ever since rejoining the working(slaving)world. I need to find some kind of balance between the two worlds that I've known

When I worked in a public library, I had to deal with lots of homeless people who tended to be men. Many of them had alcohol issues, others had mental health issues and still others were people who had either chosen to be homeless or were forced into it. I realized that it was a viable lifestyle choice for some people and I envied them their freedom. Right now I am wasting time at a job I hate, with people I care little for, for a boss who is diagnosable, and getting paid half of what I am worth. Tonight I will go home to a cold old house that needs a lot of work we can't afford to do and worry about having enough money to retire on (I am 48 and if I am going to do anything about it, it has to be now), but knowing that if I put more money into an account it probably won't be there when I need it anyway. These are not things a homeless person worries about. Their needs are a lot more immediate and I think a bit more real. Talk about living in the moment.

I'm not sure one should really rely on Marx for a subtle discussion of the finer points of Capitalism...

I had a big, long, jumbled post written up, but I think I'll just finish with a quote that I always think of whenever I hear "healthcare should be free" or some such...

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a front for the urge to rule." - H.L. Mencken

BS! There are still lots of people in this world that feel compassion. Health care should be free. Are we not all brothers and sisters? The health care industry is right up there with oil and religion when it comes to corruption.